It began as a dream on an ice pond right in the backyard of her own home.

It was there at the age of 5 that Taunton resident Michelle Picard began her journey to someday skate for the United States of America women’s national hockey team.

Now 11 years later, Picard is finally getting a chance to fulfill that lifelong fantasy.

“It feels really cool,” the 16-year-old defenseman for the USA 18-and-under national team said in a telephone conversation from Chicago. “After our first game, just to wear the jersey with the USA logo on it, it felt really cool. It’s my dream to play for the Olympic hockey team someday. But it’s four years away.”

At the moment, it’s just baby steps for Picard.

Her national team was going for its third consecutive gold medal in Saturday’s 2010 International Ice Hockey Federation championship when it hosted Canada at Seven Bridges Ice Arena just outside Chicago.

Both the USA and Canada were unbeaten after four games heading into the final, and Canada was looking for its first-ever 18-and-under IIHF title.

Heading into Saturday’s contest, Picard’s team had not allowed a power-play goal in 15 attempts throughout the tournament. Meanwhile, Canada had converted a tournament-best 10 of 26 chances. Each team won its last three games by virtue of a shutout.

Canada had surrendered three goals, all in the first game against Russia while the Americans had allowed just one. In the last three games, Canada scored 44 goals to the U.S.’s 36.

Perhaps the most telling statistic is the shots on goal.

Through its first four games, Canada had a 220-45 differential in shots while the Americans were out-shooting opponents 213-48. Each side hadn’t allowed more than 16 shots against in any one game, and both sides had at least 41 shots on their opponent’s goal.

The U.S. squad advanced to the gold medal game with preliminary wins against Japan (11-1), Finland (5-0), the Czech Republic (15-0) and Sweden (5-0).

Picard, a former student from the old Elizabeth Pole School and Parker Middle School, said the chemistry on the team is quite unique, thanks to the leadership of Team USA head coach Katie King, a former three-time Olympian and head women’s hockey coach at Boston College.

“We’re all friends and nobody hates each other…no fights,” laughed Picard. “Coach King is awesome and she’s so nice. She keeps us loose. But when we’re doing something wrong, she goes out of her way to help us out.”

Picard transferred out of the Taunton school system to attend a private school in Dedham called Noble and Greenough. She wanted to pursue the sport she loves as well as play with her hockey pals from the Mass Spitfire Girls Ice Hockey Club from Walpole.

Page 2 of 2 - “I have friends on this team and they all have gone to private schools from Thayer and Nobles,” Picard said. “So my mom said why not. So we did.”

This past season, Nobles and Greenough took the New England Prep School Association Conference by storm.

The Bulldogs began the year with a 2-1 record before running off an unprecedented 17-game unbeaten streak. After losing to Andover, Nobles and Greenough raced into the tournament on another long streak before losing to Lawrence in the NEPSAC semifinals.

The Bulldogs finished the season with a 20-3-4 mark.

Picard, who also played for the Taunton Brewins youth hockey team, is glad she is representing the city of Taunton and said she owes everything she ever learned in ice hockey to her older brother Tim.

“My brother played hockey and he kind of taught me everything,” Picard said. “He taught me how to skate on a little pond behind our house. We go out there and play all the time. I started to love it then. I just kept going off of it.”

Picard doesn’t mind the physical nature of the sport.

“I guess it’s part of the game,” she said. “It makes it fun playing against physical teams I guess…I don’t want to get in a fight with anyone. We can’t full out check like the boys.”

What’s Picard’s advice to future female hockey players?

“I’d just say if you love it, keep going with it,” Picard said. “I’ve always dreamt of being here but I never really expected it to happen until I got the e-mail saying that I made the team. So I guess if you really love the sport, keep playing.”